After booking their place in the final of the Vertu Trophy on Wednesday, the Town host Reading at Kenilworth Road on Saturday aiming to return to winning ways in League One.
The Hatters haven’t won in the league in four games and, with the play-offs now six points away, need to get back to winning ways to get their pursuit of promotion back on track.
Reading are one of those teams above Jack Wilshere’s side in the table, so Saturday’s game has quite some importance, so let’s get into it.
Royal appointment
An indifferent start to the season saw a managerial change at the Madejski Stadium and Noel Hunt departed the club and was replaced by Leam Richardson back in November.
After beating the Town in before Christmas, the Royals have been on a roll and find themselves with just two losses all year, both away from home against Leyton Orient and AFC Wimbledon.
It’s just two defeats in their last 15 games and Richardson’s side sit in eighth place, just two points off the play-offs. Last time out they earned a 2-1 win over Bradford, scoring both goals in injury time.
Former Hatter Jack Marriott has been one of reasons behind their upturn in fortunes. The striker, who arrived at the Madejski Stadium from Wrexham this season, has been in sensational form in front of goal, scoring 17 times in 24 games. However, the frontman has picked up a hamstring injury and is a doubt to face the Town.
Haven’t we met before?
So, there’s this website. Hatters Heritage. You might have heard of it. Got information and line-ups of every single game we’ve ever played. Scans of every programme and photos of every player, too.
Visiting their website will give you the complete record of all our meetings with the Royals, which goes back to our first game with them all the way back to our first meeting with Reading in 1888 – a 4-0 victory.
Saturday will be our visitors’ first visit to these parts since a goalless draw in the Championship in 2022.
The Royals have enjoyed the upper hand in recent meetings, winning eight of the 16 games since August 2001. Among those was a behind-closed-doors 5-0 win here in July 2020.
The Hatters’ last win came at the end of the 2021/22 season that saw Nathan Jones’ side earn a place in the Championship play-offs thanks to Harry Cornick’s cheeky, and important, winner.
In charge
Oliver Mackey makes his first visit to Kenilworth Road to oversee this one. He comes fresh from overseeing Yeovil versus Tamworth in the National League on Tuesday in which he booked former Hatter Aaron Jarvis. Card-wise it’s 80 yellows and two reds in 20 games this season for the whistler.
On this day
We didn’t know it at the time but in 2020 our goalless draw at Wigan would be our last game for months as Covid hit the world. The game itself is best remembered for a fine last-minute save from Simon Sluga and would prove to be Graeme Jones’ last game in charge.
Honourable mentions go to a 2-0 win at Burnley on a cold midweek in 2000, a big 3-2 win over Coventry in the top-flight in 1989 and a 3-3 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge back in 1959.
Team news
Josh Keeley is likely to return in goal following Wednesday’s win while Izzy Jones is back in contention having been ill.
Elijah Adebayo is closer to a return while Jack Wilshere will run the rule over Hakeem Odoffin, who cramped up after the win over Northampton, and Ali Al-Hamadi, who has a slight foot injury.
On Adebayo, the boss said: “He’s really, really close. Last week was a little bit early for him, but he is very close. He’s the one who could be in contention for Saturday.”
Norwegian midfielder Sverre Sandal is in line to play for the Under-21s in a fixture on Monday.
Jack’s presser
Watch the manager’s press conference on LTFC+ as he talks about the importance of carrying the momentum of Wednesday’s win into their league fixtures. All XX minutes and XX seconds are here for all to see for free without any logging in faff. Enjoy.
Tune in, turn on.
Simon Pitts will be, as ever, on the mic on LTFC+ to call this one from best seat in the house up on the Bobbers gantry.
If you’re overseas and want to watch, it’s £10. Just want audio? It’s available anywhere, and it’s just £2.50 for the pleasure. Clicking here gives you those possibilities.
If you are an ex-pat overseas, take advantage of the half-season Global Hatters subscription which is now just £150. All the details are right here.
You can also follow our social media channels for live updates as they happen, plus photos and behind-the-scenes content during the 90 minutes. Stay on lutontown.co.uk post-match for a full report, post-match reaction and the all-important highlights.
And finally...don’t be THAT fan.
A reminder to all supporters, no matter who you are, how old or who you’re supporting, to go about your day with respect. We continue to support the Love Football, Protect the Game campaign.
Luton Town Football Club has committed in its customer charter to providing safe match-day experiences for all supporters regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation, and this applies equally to home and away fixtures.
In the event that any Luton supporters do make discriminatory chants, the Club will work with the police and football authorities to help identify such individuals. Any such fans would then face the strictest club sanctions, including football banning orders that would prevent them attending any matches, in addition to any criminal charges.
Furthermore, we would like to warn against pitch incursions and the use of pyrotechnics or missiles – including any type of object that is thrown onto the pitch during a match – which could lead to potential prosecution.
The Club can also be held responsible for the behaviour of its supporters, which could lead to substantial fines being imposed.
As a diverse and inclusive football club, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our fellow EFL clubs in supporting the FA’s ‘Love Football. Protect the Game’ campaign and call on all fans to enjoy the game in a positive spirit.
If you are offended by any discriminatory abuse of any kind at any of our games, you can report it by clicking HERE, or by contacting your nearest steward immediately.
Alternatively, email myvoice@lutontown.co.uk, or report the incident via Kick it Out's free, confidential reporting app on the App Store and Google Play.
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